Radius SF – 1123 Folsom St. at 7th / Saturday June 12th 6:00pm – 12:00am
Rebus Project, San Francisco opening party at Radius in SOMA. Displaying works by John Agoncillo, Geoffrey Colburn, JD Maturen, Al McKee, Jasper Sanidad, Joseph Szymanski and Kevin Zamani.
Join us for art, booze, beer and revelry. Bring your friends, family, enemies and lovers. All are welcome, the more the merrier…
–noun, plural -bus⋅es. The Rebus Project is a collective portrait of San Francisco assembled over a 30-month period by photographers and writers who live in the city. Conceived by Jasper Sanidad and hammered out over beers and shots with five other founding contributors at The Tempest Bar and Restaurant on Natoma Street, Rebus is a multi-dimensional urban documentary with the aim of defining San Francisco beyond its accepted pop-culture parameters. Dividing the city into 30 square quarter-mile grids, Rebus observers converge every month on a designated square to explore, photograph, study and document the life of that area over a one-month period. The project began in August 2009 with an exploration of the Mission, the Castro and parts of Upper Market—all of which fell within the first grid. In September, the grid encompassed areas of the Outer Sunset and Ocean Beach. In October the Financial District, Moscone Center and the Embarcadero. San Francisco is a city of small, but distinct neighborhoods in close proximity—thus each grid will reflect in microcosm the diversity of the city as a whole. When, in February 2012, the last quarter mile is documented, the project will present a classic rebus combining pictures and words to form a single, unifying narrative and a wide-angle mosaic of San Francisco. ~ Text by Al McKee To learn more about the Rebus Project, San Francisco, please visit http://www.rebus-project.com/.
re⋅bus [ree-buhs] Origins: 1595–1605; rēbus by things (abl. pl. of rēs), in phrase nōn verbīs sed rēbus not by words but by things.
1. a representation of a word or phrase by pictures, symbols, etc., that suggest that word or phrase or its syllables.
2. a piece of writing containing many such representations.
Fighting about art is like cocaine. Chasing that high is the same thing to me. Looking at photographs and drinking beer in our usual corner became a ritual, the prints all smelled like cigarettes when we were through.
It took me a long time to realize it, but one night it just dawned on me, and of course this epiphany came while I was considering just how wrong someone else was about someone else’s photograph. I love fighting about it almost as much as I love creating it. And when I provoke someone about it after I get a few beers in me, it’s only because I enjoy it so much.
For More About The Rebus Project, San Francisco, please visit http://www.rebus-project.com/.
“Why don’t you let them see Othello instead?”
“I’ve told you; it’s old. Besides, they couldn’t understand it.”
Yes, that was true. He remembered how Helmholtz had laughed at Romeo and Juliet. “Well then,” he said, after a pause, “something new that’s like Othello, and that they could understand.”
“That’s what we’ve all been wanting to write,” said Helmholtz, breaking a long silence.
“And it’s what you never will write,” said the Controller. “Because, if it were really like Othello nobody could understand it, however new it might be. And if were new, it couldn’t possibly be like Othello.”
“Why not?”
“Yes, why not?” Helmholtz repeated. He too was forgetting the unpleasant realities of the situation. Green with anxiety and apprehension, only Bernard remembered them; the others ignored him. “Why not?”
“Because our world is not the same as Othello’s world. You can’t make flivvers without steel–and you can’t make tragedies without social instability. The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get. They’re well off; they’re safe; they’re never ill; they’re not afraid of death; they’re blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they’re plagued with no mothers or fathers; they’ve got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they’re so conditioned that they practically can’t help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there’s soma. Which you go and chuck out of the window in the name of liberty, Mr. Savage. Liberty!” He laughed. “Expecting Deltas to know what liberty is! And now expecting them to understand Othello! My good boy!”
The Savage was silent for a little. “All the same,” he insisted obstinately, “Othello’s good, Othello’s better than those feelies.”
“Of course it is,” the Controller agreed. “But that’s the price we have to pay for stability. You’ve got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We’ve sacrificed the high art. We have the feelies and the scent organ instead.”
“But they don’t mean anything.”
“They mean themselves; they mean a lot of agreeable sensations to the audience.”
“But they’re … they’re told by an idiot.”
The Controller laughed. “You’re not being very polite to your friend, Mr. Watson. One of our most distinguished Emotional Engineers …”
“But he’s right,” said Helmholtz gloomily. “Because it is idiotic. Writing when there’s nothing to say …”
“Precisely. But that requires the most enormous ingenuity. You’re making flivvers out of the absolute minimum of steel–works of art out of practically nothing but pure sensation.”
The Savage shook his head. “It all seems to me quite horrible.”
“Of course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness
is never grand.”
Fine Art Gicleé Prints
After careful thought, much consideration, and a bit of persuasion from friends and family, I have decided to make available fine art gicleé prints of my original drawings.
All gicleé prints are reproduced to the same dimensions as the original drawing. Prints are made using Epson UltraChrome K3 archival pigment inks and printed on 100% acid free watercolor paper to ensure maximum longevity.
In addition to my Silver Gelatin prints, Gicleé prints may be ordered through this website using Paypal. A Paypal account is not required to place an order. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you would prefer to make your purchase off line.
While in my own very humble opinion nothing can ever compare to the originals, rest assured, these digital reproductions are of the highest quality available. Of course, if you would like to inquire about purchasing the original drawing, feel free to drop me a line.
To view all drawings available for purchase as fine art prints, please visit the drawing archive:
Chillin’ Productions 11th Anniversary Party in San Francisco…
Featuring 180 Painters/Photographers, 80 fashion Designers, and
two pieces by yours truly…
Live Painting by:
Steve Javiel ( www.stevejaviel.blogspot.com)
Daniel J. Valadez (www.danieljvaladez.com)
Ian Ross (www.ianrossart.com)
June 13, 2009 – 8:00pm-2:00am
Mezzanine – 444 Jessie Street, SF CA 94103
http://www.mezzaninesf.com
$7 at the door – 21 with ID
“Homeowners, banks, Detroit—everyone wants a bailout. But President Obama will need to invest serious money, and time, boosting the arts, too.” – Jeremy McCarter | NEWSWEEK
It’s an interesting concept to say the least. Everyone else gets a bailout. Wall Street got $700 billion and they don’t even make anything, save for manufactured wealth. Why not the artists? Or more importantly, funding to offset the already scarce private donors and programs that took a huge hit when the markets went sideways.
Most would say that the last thing on our minds at this point should be the arts. I beg to differ. Art is a lively hood for a great many people in this country, just like working for GM or Chrysler. It’s also a huge industry, one that suffers just as much, if not more so, during difficult economic times.
Let’s come at it from another direction, just for sake of argument, and without putting my politics too far out there. The annual budget for the National Endowment for the Arts is around $130 million. If the Pentagon could be persuaded to sell off just one of their F/A-22 Raptor fighter jets, with a price tag of $133 million, we could double the NEA’s funding over night. Hell, let’s go for broke and sell off two…
Read the entire article, “Will Act For Food, Obama and the Arts” at Newsweek.com.
Disassembly of Front Cover and Shutter Holder:
1. Tear off front cover leather -A,B, (2136,2137) take off four setscrews (9004) and the M.X. changing knob (2132) so that the front cover set (219 set) may be taken off.
2. Open the back cover and take out the light shield barrel (1034), shutter nut (2141) and shutter and also disconnect the soldered portions.
3. Take off successively the focus adjusting washer (2140), reset ring (2020), shutter seat (2017), charge ring washer (2018) and shutter charge ring (2019).
Adjust shutter after the shutter being assembled:
Charge the shutter with the focusing lever being set at the near or closeup distance. If it fails to be charged, lift little by little the crank arm adjustment plate so as to select the charge point and then check if the reset ring arm is in contact with the shutter lever when the former is charged. Adjust the overcharge at the infinity position and confirm this adjustment at the near position also. If the adjustment is not sufficient, make further adjustment by means of the adjustment plate.
Post Disassembly, the Leica IIIf I snagged off Ebay is starting to shape up. Picked up a 3.5cm f/3.5 lens and a multi-finder off Ebay as well. Up next is to order a new leather covering.
If you ever have a camera in need of a new covering, check out cameraleather.com. The web site is pretty dated, but this guy has everything from classic black pebble calfskin to red lizard skin coverings, if that’s your bag. It’s a pretty simple and cost effective way to bring an old camera back to life.
It’s difficult to tell from the photograph, but the chrome is pitting badly on most of the top plate, so I’ll probably end up stripping the chrome, and re-painting the body in black lacquer. Mechanically the camera is in great shape after I re-built the shutter and cleaned out the 50 years worth of dirt.
Have a look through the Leica IIIF tag to see a few images I’ve shot with it so far…
rebus project
